


Liho the Semi-Stray

by WinterHoneyBunny



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Beta Read, But only in the beginning really, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Falling In Love, Fluff, Fun cat shenanigans, Humor, Living Together, Major Character Injury, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Mild Language, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, there will be a lot of it
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-16
Updated: 2020-12-07
Packaged: 2021-03-03 20:55:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 9,546
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24761947
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WinterHoneyBunny/pseuds/WinterHoneyBunny
Summary: "There was a quiet tap tap tap at the window on the other side of the room.'Mew.'He whipped his head around. Sitting right on the ledge outside the window was a tiny black cat, its yellow eyes fixated on Steve."Steve accidentally attracts a stray cat while he's temporarily housed in Natasha's apartment and he would very much like to keep this a secret. Now he has to pretend like he's not constantly stealing cat-friendly treats from her fridge and returning from the store with cans of Fancy Feast.ORThe one where Steve doesn't know that Natasha (kind of) owns a cat. Liho, the smartest kitty in the world, takes advantage of this.
Relationships: Minor or Background Relationship(s), Steve Rogers/Natasha Romanov
Comments: 53
Kudos: 211





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone! This is my very first fic, so happy reading! Also, big thank you to the spectacular hoku_mahina for beta reading this. Go read her stuff, it's fantastic!

“You really don’t have to do this for me, Nat.”

“Don’t be stupid, Rogers. It’s either my place or the med wing for two weeks.”

Steve let out a rueful chuckle. He had injured himself pretty badly on their last mission by taking two bullets to the gut and one to his right knee. Waking up in the medical wing of the Tower after surgery on a torn spleen was hell, and his shattered kneecap wasn’t much better. While the serum running through his veins could heal him much faster than any other person, he was still ordered to be on two weeks of bed rest. That would be long enough to get the cast off his leg, at least.

Bed rest for him, however, meant being supervised the whole time. According to Fury, he had a track record of violating his orders when it came to his health. He was meant to be confined to a private room in the med wing until Natasha stepped up and offered her apartment. 

She had been sitting next to his hospital bed after he woke up, red in the face and  _ very _ pissed. She berated him for being the stupidest person she’s ever met and for making her carry his “heavy as fuck” body off the battlefield and towards the quinjet. He pretended not to notice her bloodshot eyes when she leaned over to thump his forehead, then kissed him in that same spot.

He was discharged the next night. After being continuously woken up by the nurses coming and going from his room, both Steve and Natasha couldn’t wait to actually get some real sleep. The second they entered the apartment, Steve started to limp towards the couch in the center of her living room.

“Whoa, where are you going?” she asked, grabbing his arm.

“Uh, the couch. I thought-”

“What’re you gonna do, sleep there?”

Steve hesitated. That was his plan, yes, but before he could say anything, Nat started again.

“You won’t fit on that thing laying down.” She cocked an eyebrow and challenged him to argue with her. He glanced back to the couch.

“I could try?”

Natasha rolled her eyes, stifling a chuckle. “No. Don’t worry, I have a guest room.”

“Oh, o-okay.” He looked flustered. Natasha thought about making a sly comment for that reaction, but decided against it. They had only just started their relationship a few weeks ago with very little time in between for simple things like dates. They hadn’t gotten much further than making out in his quarters during a rare moment of peace and she knew that he wanted to take things slow. She did, too. Besides a couple of  _ very _ tragic relationships during her training with the Red Room, this was her first serious one since defecting. She never thought she would get this far with anyone ever again, and she was hesitant to keep a fast pace. She wanted to do this right for the both of them.

Also, the rest of the team didn’t know. Steve and Natasha decided they liked it that way, so no public displays of affection were allowed, which slowed them down even more.

_ “They make people very uncomfortable anyway,”  _ Steve had quipped during a casual team dinner, tickling her side when no one was watching. She had had to bite back a giggle. 

“Nat, I’m sorry. I just don’t wanna be in the way...”

“Don’t say it. It’s not a problem, okay? Not at all. You know that.” She pressed her palm to his cheek. “Can you walk by yourself or do you need a hand?” she asked. Without waiting for an answer, she tucked his arm around her shoulders and guided him to the guest room. Steve didn’t realize how much he needed the help, how good it would feel to take some pressure off his leg. He clung to her tightly.

She patted his hand. “Almost there, soldier.”

“Thank you.”

“Oh, hush.”

Steve gave her shoulder a squeeze. 

When she opened the door, he noticed that the guest room was modest with a full sized bed tucked to the right side and a dresser directly next to it. The third and final object in the room was an obscenely large American flag draped across the wall above the bed, adorned with a bald eagle in the center. He stared open-mouthed at the grotesque thing, then back to Natasha. 

She smiled innocently. “Temporary home, sweet temporary home.”

“Can I please take that down?”

“If you do, I’ll just put it back up. We’ll go around in circles, which doesn’t sound like a fun game to me. Besides, do you know how long it took me to find that?”

Steve could only shake his head, fighting to keep the laugh from bubbling out of him. She didn’t need to know that he found this amusing or else she might come up with even more embarrassing things to put around her home. She smirked up at him and helped him sit on the bed.

“I can’t believe I have to look at this thing every day for two weeks.”

“That  _ thing’s  _ name is Ernie the Eagle and he’ll protect you, so you should actually be thanking me. Also, you're a terrible liar. You love Ernie already, I can see it in your eyes.” She playfully poked the space just above the bridge of his nose. “By the way, I went into your apartment earlier today to grab some clothes, all of which are in the dresser. I noticed that you own a lot of blue and gray and nothing else, so we’re probably going to go shopping when you’re up for that.”

“Okay, there’s nothing wrong with sticking to a color scheme.”

“Well if you don’t want to, I can just go shopping for you by myself.”

Steve thought about the outcome of that potential shopping trip. He smirked. “You know what, Romanoff?”

She grinned. “Oh, I’m back to Romanoff? Steve, I thought we were more than that.” 

Steve gave an exaggerated sigh. “Okay, fine.” He thought for a moment. “Dollface?”

“Oh, no,” Natasha scrunched her eyebrows. “Absolutely not.”

“Hmm. Sugar Bear.”

She narrowed her eyes. “Don’t do this.”

He smiled, then grabbed her hand and dragged her so she was sitting on his lap. She tried to protest (“Hey,  _ hey _ , your leg…!”), but he wanted her close. Steve studied her face for a couple of seconds before weaving his fingers through her hair and leaning in to kiss the corner of her lips. She hummed and nudged her nose against his, relaxing into him a little bit. He grinned up at her, then kissed her jawline, then beneath her ear, then whispered - 

“Honey lamb.”

She yanked herself away with a push to his shoulder. “You’re disgusting.” 

“You like it.”

“That’s a false statement,” she said as she walked to the dresser and yanked open one of the drawers. She pulled out a pair of shorts and a plain gray T-shirt. “Is this alright for tonight?”

“Yeah, that’s perfect,” he laughed as he barely caught the clothes she tossed at his face. “Oh hey, I think there’s still a squashed banana in my bag. Care to split it for our first meal as a couple who lives together?”

The question was sarcastic, although Steve did have every intention to snack on it before passing out. Natasha snorted.

“Tempting, but I’ll have to pass. I’m exhausted and it’s your fault for putting yourself in the hospital overnight, so I’m going to bed.” She leaned over for one last kiss. “We can get more stuff from your apartment tomorrow, but we’ll talk about that later. Goodnight.” He bid her the same as she left the room, then reached down to fish the banana out of his bag. 

Just as he peeled it, there was a quiet  _ tap tap tap _ at the window on the other side of the room.

“Mew.”

He whipped his head around. Sitting right on the ledge outside the window was a tiny black cat, its yellow eyes fixated on Steve. It meowed again, insistently scratching at the glass. Curious, Steve limped over to the window before sitting down next to it, his hand resting near the locks. The cat stopped clawing and stared at Steve’s face before darting its gaze down to the banana in his hand.

“Hey there,” Steve whispered. “Are you hungry?”

The cat put its paw up against the window and held it there. Steve smiled gently before tearing off a small part of the banana, getting ready to unlock the window before he stopped himself. The image of an angry Natasha popped into his mind, frustrated that a black cat would permanently lurk around her fire escape waiting for food because Steve decided to feed it once. Was it worth feeding this cat tonight if this became a recurring thing? He was a guest in Nat’s home, after all, and he probably wouldn’t be living there after his two weeks of rest, at least not  _ yet _ , and he didn’t want to attract an animal to her apartment that might be bothersome - 

“ _ Meeew!” _

He sighed and unlocked the window. Before the cat could come in, he tossed a chunk of banana onto the ledge and quickly closed it again. The little cat jumped slightly at the surprise before chowing down, looking very content with itself.

“Let’s just keep this meeting between you and me, huh? We don’t need to make a habit out of this.”

The cat looked up at him and gently bonked its head against the glass. God, Steve was already charmed. And just as quickly as it had come, it dashed away. He watched for a couple of minutes, waiting to see if it would come back for the rest of the banana, but it was long gone by now. 

Steve hefted himself up off the floor and limped back to bed, hoping he didn’t just make an inconvenient mistake.

  
  



	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Thank you all for such lovely comments, you've really made my day! I have no good excuse for why it took me so long to post this next chapter, but here it is. This one isn't beta read this time, so just keep that in mind. Alrighty, enjoy!

The next morning, Natasha woke him up with the sounds of her cooking. He took a deep breath and stretched his legs out as much as he could with a cast encasing one of them. He sighed and righted himself, reaching for his crutches and getting ready to face the day; however, Natasha chose that moment to burst into the room.

“What the hell are you doing?” she asked, tray in hand. A quick glance at it showed the result of Natasha’s cooking skills: a mountain of scrambled eggs, strips of bacon, hash browns, a couple of slices of Greek toast covered in butter and jam, and a cup of what Steve presumed to be coffee. There was also a little white flower in a red and blue vase. 

“Good morning to you too. I was just getting out of bed – “

“You’re on bed rest, dumbass. I’m taking my job seriously by keeping you where you’re supposed to be. Here’s breakfast, chef’s special.” She pushed him back so that he was laying against the pillows and placed the tray on his lap.

“Aw, Nat, I can move around a little. What’s with the flower?” 

“Yeah, a  _ little _ . You can move around later when you’re doing those exercises for your knee. As for the flower, men usually do something like this, but then I thought...you know what? Gender roles are useless and I can give my man a flower if I want.”

Steve smiled and felt his heartbeat a little faster when she referred to him as her man. He was  _ hers _ .

“It’s a very nice flower, thank you.”

She smiled and tapped two fingers on the underside of his chin. “You’ll have to repay me by painting a replica of it all nice and pretty with a sunset background.” Natasha lifted his head and leaned down for a kiss. “No comments on the breakfast I worked so hard on?”

Steve chuckled. “It looks delicious, thank you. You really didn’t have to. Truth be told, I didn’t think you could cook based on what I see you eat on the daily.”

Natasha scoffed. “First of all, yes I had to because how else are you gonna eat? And second, just because I prefer peanut butter sandwiches does not mean I can’t cook, it means that I often choose not to.”

Steve could only stare at her with adoration. He cherished these moments with her. These sweet little moments when work and the state of the world were long forgotten. The only thing in the universe was her small smile, her bluntness, her hand on top of his. For just a second, everything felt perfect. She was perfect.

There was a beat of comfortable silence between the pair before Steve remembered something Natasha said the night before.

“When are we going to get the rest of the stuff from my apartment?”

Natasha clicked her tongue. “Change of plans. I’m getting your stuff while you are going to be a good soldier, stay here, and rest your body.”

Steve sighed. “Natasha, you and I both know that I’m fine by now. It only takes a couple of days for me to heal. I could rip this cast off my leg if I really wanted to.” He tried to flash a reassuring smile, but she was having none of it.

“You rip that cast off and I’ll kick you out for being an incompetent roommate. And I’ll report you to Fury. And Tony, just for the hell of it.”

He chuckled and scratched the back of his head. Yep, still perfect. 

Things felt so perfect that Steve completely forgot about his secret in the form of a small black cat. As it turned out, this cat did not need much to go back to Steve’s window in search of food. That night, the animal returned. She looked quite comfortable with herself as she was perched upon the ledge of the window, licking her paws as if waiting for a guaranteed meal. Steve had to laugh at that, remembering Clint’s explanation for being a dog person. Something about cats thinking that humans were lesser than themselves. 

Also, she was just so damn cute. She poked her little pink tongue out and just left it there like she didn’t know what to do with it. When she turned her head towards him, he saw her yellow eyes practically dominated by the black of her pupils and Steve’s heart just about melted. How could he deny a face like that?

He turned to his bag resting on the foot of his bed only to find that he didn’t have any snacks in there. That meant he’d have to go into Natasha’s kitchen and search for something kitten-friendly, and Steve doubted she kept any spare cans of cat food. With a huff, he assured the cat that he would be back in a moment, hoisted himself off the bed, grabbed his crutches, and made his way out of the room and towards the fridge. He made sure to look up which human snacks that cats could eat but considered whether or not he should go out and buy some real cat food. 

To his surprise, the light in the kitchen was already turned on and Natasha was sitting right at the counter, poring over some files from their last mission. 

“Hey, Nat,” Steve started. She didn’t even look up. “I thought you went to bed.”

“I did, but I figured I could look at this one more time before handing it in tomorrow.”

Steve nodded and thought that he should’ve been aware of this pattern by now. She rarely got any sleep whenever she had work to do, which he thought was problematic. The first time he voiced his concern, she responded with a firm “don’t worry about it.” At that point, he didn’t think he could convince her to go to sleep if his life depended on it. He simply leaned down to give her a peck on the cheek before making his way to the fridge.

“Hey, wait,” Natasha glanced at him before returning to her files. “Why are _ you _ awake?”

“Oh, well,” Steve fumbled, trying not to let slip that a stray cat would probably make numerous appearances near the apartment. “I was just hungry. Thought I could use a midnight snack.”

She blinked before smirking. “Can’t help that super soldier metabolism, huh?”

“Haha,  _ nope _ ,” he said, worried that his nervous chuckle gave away his terrible lying skills. 

Natasha looked up at him completely this time, eyes squinted. “Okay, what’s wrong?”

“Uh, I’m just hungry. That’s all.” He opened the fridge, avoiding eye contact and searching for something a cat might not have a hard time digesting. 

“Why are you nervous?” she asked, her expression now shifting to a concerned one.

“Me? No, no. I’m just...I just need to…” Steve couldn’t complete the sentence, concentrated on the baby spinach he spotted in a little plastic container. He could feed a little bit of that to a cat! He reached out for it, but felt Natasha grip his elbow and pull him back to face her.

“Steve, your midnight snack usually isn’t little bits of spinach. Be honest with me,” she demanded, her eyes focused on his. “Are you uncomfortable with this?”

“With...wait, with what?”

“With this, with living together. I know it’s only for a short period of time, but I also know that our...relationship is fairly new. I didn’t give you much of a choice back at the hospital, but I figured you might like it better here than staying there for longer than you needed to.”

“Oh - no, Nat. That’s not the issue at all!”

“So there  _ is  _ an issue.”

Steve blanched. “Uh, well  _ no _ , not really.”

“Steve, I just told you to be honest here. You’re barely holding eye contact and your nervous laugh is so detectable it’s embarrassing.”

“ _ I know _ , I know. Look, I’m actually very comfortable living here with you, Nat.”

“Yeah?”

He nodded.

Natasha flashed a small smile before asking, “Then what’s the problem?”

Steve thought that maybe he should come clean about feeding the stray cat. She wouldn’t be too upset about it, would she? But then he thought of that morning and how shockingly peaceful he felt. He said something that wasn’t a lie but was actually a thought that had been subconsciously running through his head.

“I think...I’m a little surprised by how comfortable I am living with you.”

Natasha raised an eyebrow, silently asking if she should be insulted.

“I mean,” he quickly continued. “I said that I wanted to take things slow, but here we are living together. I know...I know it’s temporary and it’s only been a day, but this morning was just so nice. I’ve never had such a lovely sight to wake up to.”

A slight blush crept up Natasha’s face as she stepped closer into his space. “So why are you so jittery?”

Steve had to take a second to think about it, then shook his head. “I’ve never done this before. I’ve never wanted to rely on another person and I don’t exactly have a great track record when it comes to relationships.”

“Neither do I.”

“But that’s okay! Right? Because I’m...I’ve got no experience with any of this, but this morning felt so natural and domestic and that’s  _ not  _ us at all, but...but it could be. I don’t always know how to act. You always tell me I’m impulsive and I suppose that’s the reason why I’m staying here in the first place. So I just want to do this right.”

Steve felt his heart jump to his throat when Natasha looped her arms around his neck. “I want that too.” She leaned up all the way to slant her lips over his. He wrapped an arm around her waist and returned her kiss, sweet and accepting.

Before it could go any further, she pulled back. “You don’t have to be nervous about how good this all feels. We both know that relationships, genuine relationships, aren’t exactly my forte either, but I like this too. I’m not all too surprised about it, about my feelings towards this. We’ve just started calling this,” she gestured between the two of them. “A relationship, but we both know we were dancing around it for more than a few days too long.”

Steve had to cringe at that, knowing full well that he waited an unacceptable amount of time when confronting his feelings for the spy. 

“But like you said, that’s okay. I thought this morning was really nice too.” She gave him a full smile this time and handed him the container from the fridge. “Here’s your spinach, you crackpot. Didn’t mean to hold you hostage.”

He accepted the spinach with gratitude. “No amount of time with you could ever be interpreted as being held hostage.”

“Oh, well aren’t I a lucky girl?” She winked. “Need help going back to your room, old-timer?”

Steve very suddenly remembered the cat waiting at the window and declined her offer, and instead wished her goodnight with a kiss to her cheek.

When he got back to his room, the cat was leaning against the glass of the window, seemingly impatient for her snack. When she saw Steve enter, her ears perked up and she squeaked out a short “meow” as if to get his attention. Steve quickly closed the door.

“Shhh, I’m coming, I’m coming.” Steve insisted, abandoning his crutches and hopping the rest of the way to the window. “The second time we meet and you’re already so demanding.”

The little cat swatted at the glass in retaliation and Steve had to laugh. He unlocked the window and very carefully took a clump of spinach leaves in his fist to lay them out on the ledge. Before he could do so, the cat nudged her head against Steve’s fingers until he opened up his palm to her. She started to eat right out of his hand.

“Whoa,” Steve breathed, entranced. “Didn’t know we were already there.” When she was done eating, he very gently extended his index finger to scratch her head. This did not work in his favor, however, since she snapped her head up to bite at him.

“Ow!” he hissed instinctively, drawing his hand away. “Sorry, too personal. I get it.” When he noticed that she continued to eye the container next to him, Steve grabbed another handful and repeated the process.

“You know,” he stated, staring at the stray as she ate more small bits of spinach. “If this is gonna be a regular thing, I need to start calling you something. What do you say?”

She didn’t respond, so Steve continued. 

“Should I call you Sweetie ironically, considering how much of a brat you are?” Steve did not expect the cat to look up from her spinach and stare him down dead in the eyes. “Uh...sorry?” He was shocked at how often she seemed to understand him. 

“Okay, how about...Licorice? Like black licorice?”

He was embarrassed by how unimpressed she looked.

“Damn, tough crowd. Alright, well...uh, Nat taught me some Russian. What was Russian for ‘cat’ again?” He did not receive an answer from the cat that stared at him in what could only be described as mild amusement. “It was ko-something. Kotik? Kotik.”

The cat’s ears perked up again as if she recognized that word. She bonked her head against the window in the same way that she did last night and Steve could not help but smile. 

“Okay. Kotik it is.”

  
  



	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Haha whoops. I didn't mean to post this late, so sorry about that. Thank you for the kudos and the very lovely comments! You're all awesome!

A week went by in a similar pattern and with each passing day, Steve was allowed to move around a bit more. He had enough time and privacy to research some more about what Kotik could eat and decided that he needed to get her some real food and not just little treats. One particular afternoon, Natasha had been called away to test some new gadgets that Stark had made for her and Steve had used the opportunity to visit a nearby pet store. After some asking around and feeling absolutely appalled by the price of some of the higher-end brands of cat food, Steve had settled on buying a variety pack of Fancy Feast and was disproportionately excited to see if she would prefer the turkey, chicken, or beef flavored food. As soon as he got home, he hid the box in the guest room closet.

When he had set out the can with the chicken in it that night, Steve was absolutely enthralled to see her chowing down with such excitement. What a good kitty.

In terms of his health, he convinced Dr. Cho to remove the cast around his leg one week earlier than scheduled.

“Look, I told you,” Steve said to Nat as they were sitting on the couch back at her apartment. He extended his leg up and down with ease. “Completely healed.”

“I never doubted that, Steve,” she replied. “But you’ve still got one week of rest left.”

“What? Still?”

Natasha scoffed. “Did you forget about your torn spleen or…? I can do my best to remind you.”

“I feel perfectly fine just like I said a few days ago.”

“Cool. You still won’t be going on missions for seven more days.” Natasha put her hand up when Steve began to protest. “Fury’s orders, not mine. Besides, when are you going to get this kind of time off again?”

Steve made a motion to argue but paused. She had a point. He certainly didn’t miss the pressure of an important mission weighing down on him, nor did he miss the exhaustion that came after it. He’d never felt more rested.

“Okay, point taken.” He sighed before continuing. “I guess I’m not comfortable leaving the team behind for this long when I know I’m fit enough to help.”

Natasha blinked up at him for a moment before placing her hands on either side of his face. “You can’t keep extending yourself like this. Why is it that every time one of us needs to take a step back, you don’t hesitate to grant us leave?”

Steve shook his head. “Nat, it’s different. You know it is.”

“Different how?” She raised her eyebrows and gave him a second to think about it. “Has anyone ever told you how dramatic you are?”

A flash of Peggy’s smiling face came to mind. “Maybe once or twice.”

Natasha shook her head as she stroked his cheek. “You need to hear it more often. You trust the team, don’t you?”

“Of course I -”

“Okay, that’s it then. Right? They’re all more than capable of handling an op here and there without your constant guidance.”

Before Steve could figure out if he was supposed to be hurt by that comment, Natasha’s expression shifted into a soft one. “You and I have trained them well enough at this point. They know what to do, they know when to ask for help.” She patted his cheek once before removing both her hands. “Besides, I’m still there most of the time if they really need some help. You trust me.”

It wasn’t a question because Natasha knew Steve well, but he was still compelled to answer with a rushed “Yes, of course I do. You know I do.”

She huffed in amusement. “I know.” She kissed his nose. “You hungry yet? I don’t have too much in the fridge, but we could order something.”

They settled on a noodle place a couple of blocks away from Nat’s apartment. She insisted on going out and getting it herself while instructing Steve to use his time wisely and pick a movie he hadn’t seen yet. 

“Anything between 1980 and now. Nothing before.”

He gave her a mock salute as she walked out the door, then turned to look through the pile of DVDs on the shelf. As he leafed through them, he heard a familiar  _ tap tap tap _ coming from Natasha’s guest room. He turned his head towards the noise and paused.

_ Tap-tap-tap! _

Steve’s eyes widened as he quickly walked towards his room and was greeted by the sight of Kotik, her paw pressed up against the glass in her usual fashion. Steve frowned and took out his phone. 1:02 pm.

“What are you doing here so early?” Steve asked, kneeling by the window. Kotik let out a little squeak before insistently patting her paw against the window again. Steve grinned and got up to fetch the cat food from his closet, wondering whether or not he was spoiling this stray cat if she was coming back earlier in the day. He shook the thought out fairly quickly by the time he grabbed the turkey flavored can and sat back down near the window, peeling the lid off.

“I guess we serve lunch and dinner here, too,” Steve muttered as he undid the locks and lifted the window up. Before he could set down the can, however, he missed the flash of absolute glee in Kotik’s eyes. In an instant, the cat squeezed herself through the small opening and landed gracefully on the floor of the bedroom.

Steve reeled back in shock. He never planned on letting the cat in, not into Natasha’s home where she probably didn’t want any animals. Steve didn’t even know if animals were allowed into the building. 

“You’re not supposed to be in here,” Steve said, partially convinced that Kotik could understand him based on everything about her. Despite this, she simply ignored his statement and began to rub up against his legs, crisscrossing between him. 

_ Oh no, that’s so cute. _

“God, I can’t say no to you. Okay, just…” Steve ran a hand down his face. “Just stay in here.” He ran to close the door before she could escape into the rest of the apartment. Just when he turned back to retrieve the food from the outside ledge, Steve heard a dreadful ripping noise. 

Kotik was hanging on the flag above his bed, clinging to a shredded piece of fabric. 

“Oh shit.”  _ Natasha’s going to kill me.  _ He moved to grab the cat off the flag, but that only succeeded in agitating Kotik. She sliced the other end of the flag before letting go, dropping down and jumping back up to the window to drag her meal inside the room and onto the floor. She ate delicately like she hadn’t just made a scene that Steve could barely process. 

He huffed out a huge breath and stared at the ripped wing of Ernie the Eagle, then moved his gaze to the cat munching on the food he had bought her. She looked up after her last bite and Steve could have sworn that Kotik looked smug.

“You know, I’m starting to feel like you only hang out with me for the food.”

Kotik poked her tongue out before turning to her paws and licking them.

“This isn’t even my flag,” he continued, mainly talking to himself. “Maybe I can sew this together before Nat sees it…” At the mention of Natasha’s name, Kotik’s ears flicked up in Steve’s direction but otherwise remained neutral. Steve noticed. “You know Nat?” 

The question was a joke, but the cat looked up this time, done with cleaning herself. Steve considered her thoughtfully before shaking the idea out of his head.

“Of course you don’t, you’re a cat. Well, whether you know her or not, she might kill me for letting an animal set foot in her apartment.. Hope you don’t leave any hairs anywhere.” Steve reached out to snatch the empty can, but Kotik stopped him by biting his fingers. He yanked his hand back, cursing. “Work with me, Kotik!”

If cats could smirk, the expression on her face could have counted as one. She let him grab the can this time, only halting him briefly by rubbing her head against the back of his hand and purring.

“God, you have such a strange way of showing affection.” 

She meowed and reached for his hand with both paws, latching on to him. Steve laughed, startled at her behavior. He lifted his arm upwards, but Kotik held on, clinging to him as she hung in midair. 

“It’s so hard to be mad at you,” Steve chuckled. “But we can’t have any more of this funny business, alright? No more ripping things that don’t belong to us.”

“Mew.” With that, Kotik released her grip on Steve and raced to the door. She started scratching at it, leaving tiny claw marks on the wood. So much for his stern instructions.

“No! Bad Kotik!” Steve shouted, scooping her back up. “You can’t go there.”

She meowed in protest. For some reason, she was determined to enter the rest of the apartment. Steve briefly wondered if there was anything in there that she could sense, something that she wanted. 

Just then, the sound of the front door opening reached both pairs of ears. Quick as a flash, Kotik wriggled out of his grasp, darted up to the window, and ran out of sight. This left Steve with an empty food can, an open window, and a ripped up flag that he didn’t have time to hide.

“Steve, I got you some pad thai,” she called from the kitchen. “You’ve been avoiding unfamiliar foods for too long and I won’t deal with it anymore.”

“Coming,” he shouted, determined to keep her from seeing the flag. He quickly tore it off the wall, consequently ripping the upper corners as they were pinned with tacks ( _ shit shit shit!) _ , crumpled it into a ball, and tossed it into the closet. He then walked out of the room and into the kitchen where Natasha was taking their meals out of the to-go bag. She turned her head towards him when she heard him enter and playfully waggled his box of noodles in the air.

Attempting to look as non-suspicious as possible (he had gotten better at this in the last seven days), he snatched the box from her hand and pecked her lips in thanks.

“Have you picked a movie yet?”

“Oh! Uh…” Steve turned to the shelf that he had been looking through earlier. “Let me look at those again.”

He set his noodles down on the table in front of the TV and made his way back to the shelf just as Natasha finished unpacking the utensils for them. She came up behind him to see which movie he was going to choose when she noticed something.

“Hey, what happened here?” she asked, lifting his hand up. To Steve’s horror, Kotik left a couple of marks where she bit his fingers. “The hell is this?”

“That! That is nothing.”

“Okay, so obviously it’s something. Did you get bit?”

Steve tried his very best not to perspire under the pressure. “Maybe it’s a bug bite. It’s fine, I hardly feel it and it’ll be gone by the end of the day.” Natasha looked skeptical, but Steve really did not want to ruin their impromptu movie lunch with a cat confession. “I promise you it’s fine.” He leaned down to kiss her forehead. Natasha sighed and accepted the answer with mild suspicion, but not enough to concern her too much.

“Fine, fine. Just a grab a movie.”

“Right! Okay…” Steve grabbed a random one out of the bunch. “Oh, here’s a Star Wars one that I haven’t seen yet,” he said. He held up The Phantom Menace and visibly saw Natasha clench her jaw. “Something wrong?”

“No, no,” she sighed. “If you’ve seen the originals, I guess this is the most logical next step. Pop it in.”

They took a seat on the couch as the movie began to play. While the opening credits rolled, Steve turned his chopsticks towards Natasha’s box of macaroni and cheese but before he could grab a piece of it, she yanked the utensils out of his hand and threw them across the room.

“What.” It was more of an exasperated statement than a question.

“There are spare chopsticks in the bag. Don’t touch my mac and cheese.”

Steve shook his head and couldn’t fight the smile that crept up his face. Once he retrieved the new chopsticks, Natasha rested her head against his shoulder and turned to kiss his collarbone. He laughed and squeezed her thigh.

“Such a strange way of showing affection.” 

  
  



	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HELLO! I have only one excuse for the extremely late update. I was studying for quite an important exam, but after taking the test, I kind of lost my motivation for a bit. It's a very short chapter, but now that I'm typing again, I hope to update more frequently! Thank you all for sticking with this! 
> 
> Also hey! It's Natasha's turn with Liho!

Natasha discovered his secret in the best way possible. 

After the movie, they tidied up the living room and he suggested they go for a walk if Natasha didn’t have anything to do back at S.H.I.E.L.D. She agreed and went to grab her shoes from her bedroom, but as she passed the open door of the guest room, she noticed that an essential item was missing. 

“I told you I didn’t want to play this game…” she muttered as she stared at the Ernie-the-Eagle-less space above the bed. Her gaze darted to the closet off to the side and figured that that was where Steve put the banner. She shook her head and yanked open the door, immediately spotting the balled up fabric on the floor. What she didn’t expect, however, was the box labeled “Fancy Feast: Classic Poultry & Beef Variety Pack” tucked away in the corner. 

“What the…” She quickly removed the ball of fabric and tossed it onto the bed, then grabbed the box and pulled it out. She thought for a moment, wondering if this was an old box she ordered for Liho a while back. But...she didn’t feed Liho Fancy Feast. And she certainly didn’t store the food away in her guest room closet. 

Curious, she turned her gaze back to the banner on the bed. She unfurled it and noticed a glaring issue; the banner was ripped. Poor Ernie lost part of his wing to the damage and Natasha was 90% certain that Steve wasn’t the cause of it. She grit her teeth and looked towards the door. There, near the bottom edge, were claw marks. Natasha knew exactly who they came from.

Dammit. She knew Liho was getting chunky.

“Nat?” Steve called, still standing by the door. “Do you need help?”

She hesitated for a moment, then said “No, I’m good.” She quickly crumpled the banner and threw it back into the closet. It was amusing and, at worst, a little annoying that he would lie to her about feeding her own cat (well, kind of her cat. The details of her arrangement with Liho were complicated). She decided to wait this out and see how long Steve would keep this secret of his. 

After quickly grabbing her shoes, she walked back to meet him at the front. He smiled at her so innocently and asked if she was ready to go. That’s when an idea struck her.

“Yeah, but Steve? Why is Ernie missing from your wall?”

His eyes widened slightly and Natasha had to keep herself from smirking. Steve cleared his throat and asked “What?”

“I just passed by your door and it was open, so I saw that you took the banner down.”

“Oh! Oh, yeah. You know, it was really, uh, giving me some anxiety before I fell asleep. Didn’t want it to fall down on me in the middle of the night.” 

She watched him fumble for that response and was prepared. “We can just hang it up somewhere else in the room.” She turned around and began to walk back to the guest room. “Here, let me go-

“No!” His hand shot out and grabbed her wrist. She bit back a smile. 

“Something wrong, soldier?”

He seemed frozen in place for a moment before sliding his hand down to grasp hers. “No problem, but can’t we go on this walk first before we move some decorations around? The banner will still be there, but the nice weather might be gone by tomorrow.”

She let herself grin and let him have this one. “Can’t argue with that logic. Lead the way, lamb chop.”

Steve visibly relaxed and Natasha made a mental note to remind him of his obvious facial expressions later. 

“And you call me the disgusting one.” He leaned down to peck her lips before leading them both out the door.

They ended up having a very pleasant time while they walked around the city hand-in-hand like any regular couple. A couple of people may have recognized them for who they were and the paparazzi certainly got a couple shots of them, but they went relatively undisturbed. Steve ended up steering her towards an ice cream parlor just before their walk back to her apartment.

“They’ve got the best chocolate ice cream you could ask for, I’m serious.”

“Hmm. Okay, but with all that hype, it better be as good as that milkshake you made me drink last time. And my favorite flavor is mint chip.”

“That’s too bad, because they only serve chocolate,” he teased, squeezing her hand.

It ended up being a close match, but Natasha decided that the milkshakes were superior. Steve disagreed and did not let it go for the remainder of their walk. It was all so domestic and lighthearted that Natasha had decided to “forget” about the missing banner.

A calm dinner and a shower later, Natasha sat down in front of the window in her room, waiting for a special guest. Right on time, Liho sauntered her way to the outside ledge, waiting for her late night meal. 

“Hey there, you little demon. Have you been tricking poor Steve into feeding you?”

Liho did not respond, but she did focus her gaze on the tin of cat food in Natasha’s hand. Natasha sighed and opened the window, allowing enough space for Liho to jump inside.

“You’re a little shit, you know that? I have to buy that special diet food to keep you healthy now.”

Liho simply rubbed her head against Natasha’s shins. She bent down to scratch under the cat’s chin, then dropped the tin on the floor for Liho to enjoy.

“Once Steve finally admits that he’s been feeding you an extra meal a day, you’re going back to your regular feeding schedule.”

Liho seemed unbothered. A second later, Steve’s voice rang out.

“Nat? I’m putting the food away. Did you want dessert?”

Liho’s ears perked up at the sound of his voice and she started for the door. Natasha quickly scooped her back up, chastising the cat.

“No! You’re not done eating!” If Natasha was being honest with herself, she would also miss out if she didn’t play along with this situation for a little while longer.

After depositing Liho and the remainder of her food back outside on the window ledge, she quickly responded with “No dessert, the ice cream was enough.”

She heard shuffling noise as Steve continued to clean the kitchen. Using this time, she turned back to the cat outside the window.

“Diet and exercise. That’s what this has come to. Jesus, now I have to buy a bunch of toys to get you running around.”

Liho tapped the glass with her little paw and poked her tongue out at the redhead.

“God, you’re so spoiled.”

  
  



	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! So! I'm so sorry. It's been nearly 4 months since I last updated this story and that was so unfair to you guys. I figured that I might be able to write for this story between classes, but this semester was awfully difficult to get through due to all the restrictions and e-learning that I could not bring myself to type anything that wasn't school related.
> 
> I've got a pretty extended winter break ahead of me, but I don't want to make promises I can't keep, so all I'll say is thank you for sticking with this story and I hope you enjoy the chapter!

The next morning marked the eighth day of Steve’s stay in Natasha’s humble apartment and to him, it felt like time was going by too quickly. He enjoyed being with Natasha for so long. Starting and ending the day with her felt so natural that he loathed to think about what he would do once he reverted back to his regular routine. He had had time to think about his day-to-day life in his one-bedroom apartment and realized that he didn’t want to go back. With Natasha (and Kotik, of course), life seemed...well, livelier. He wasn’t reduced to just a patriotic fighter or a national symbol when he was with her.

These thoughts ran through his head as he laid in bed, his brain still muddled up from the morning haze. Just then, a knock sounded at the door, followed by Natasha poking her head into the room. Her eyes darted to the window for a split second before she turned her attention towards him.

“Good morning. Didn’t know today was a sleep-in kind of a day,” she said, smirking at his tremendous bedhead.

Steve was confused for a moment before glancing at the clock on his bedside table. 10:03 AM. He shook his head for a moment before chuckling. “I guess I got used to a life of luxury. No need to wake up early for training.”

“And yet, you’ll still keep your super soldier physique. That’s an unfair advantage.”

“You know I can’t control it.” Steve made a grabby hand gesture. She rolled her eyes and walked over to the bed, yanking his arms up so that he moved into a sitting position. She hopped onto the bed and sat criss-crossed in front of him so that she could lean forward and rest her head against his shoulder. He sighed and wrapped an arm around her waist, dragging her forward a little more so he could hold her.

They sat like that for a moment, just taking each other in. Steve kissed her cheek affectionately, savoring the feeling of a lazy morning with the woman he loved. She nuzzled his shoulder in response, completely content.

Suddenly, Natasha felt something tickle her nose. She lifted her head, only to find short black hairs adorning Steve’s sleeve.

_ Ah,  _ she thought.  _ Let’s have fun with this. _

Natasha faked a sneeze before slightly scooting away from him. “Ugh, ‘scuse me. Steve, what is that?” She pointed to the hair on his shirt and sneezed again.

Steve looked to where she pointed and his eyes grew big. Oh God. Oh no. “Uh...that’s, uh, I actually don’t know.”

Natasha bit back her smile. “Looks like fur. Have you been hanging out with animals in your spare time, Soldier?”

Steve forced out a laugh and prayed that he didn’t sound nervous. “Not that I know of.”

She made a show of rubbing at her nose and sniffling. “Whatever it is, I think I’m allergic,” she said. “Try to not hang out with animals even harder, hm?”

Natasha did feel a little bad when she saw his face steadily turn red and almost admitted her joke to him right then, but-

“They’re from Tony!” 

There was a beat of silence. Natasha’s expression was unreadable. “The hairs on your shirt are from...Tony?”

Steve gulped. “Y-yeah. You know, when you stepped out for your run the other day, Tony came over to show me a new design for my suit.”

“And then he, what? Rubbed his head against you?”

“No! No, I just gave him a hug,” Steve said as he tried his damn hardest not to wince at his own words. “You know, like a short one. In thanks. Maybe he got a haircut earlier. You know how little strands of hair can fall out after a haircut? So yeah, you’re probably, uh...allergic to his shampoo.”

The lie was so terrible, but Natasha commended him for trying. A flash of a memory came to the surface of her mind, the image of a flustered, undercover Steve in an Apple store.

_ “Right, we’re getting married.” _

What a moron. She loved him so much.

“I suppose so,” she said, humoring him. “Well, next time you see Tony, tell him to keep his hair to himself.” She smirked at him and patted his cheek. “You’re all mine.” She got up from the bed and made her way out of the room, throwing in another fake sneeze for good measure. She wondered how long it would take for him to crack.

Steve, on the other hand, did not find any of this to be amusing. What had he done? He allowed Kotik to crawl all over him the night before (he had noticed that she’d gotten fluffier and couldn’t resist) only to learn that Natasha had a cat allergy. He figured that he had to fix this and decided that that night would be the last time he fed Kotik. She had survived long enough without him, so Steve figured that she could learn to live without her turkey  pâté . Right?

Steve suddenly shot up in bed with a more pressing issue on his mind. Had he told her that he hugged Stark? Oh, God. He reached over to grab his phone from the nightstand and made a quick call. After a couple of rings, Steve heard some clanging sounds on the other side, followed by Tony’s voice.

“Morning, Capsicle. Kinda in the middle of something here,” he said, sounding distracted.

“Hey, Tony. Listen, I have a favor to ask of you.”

“Uh, ok, do you remember what I said half a second ago?”

“Tony, just...I need you to come over to Natasha’s place this afternoon. Act like you’re showing me new suit designs.”

“You want a new suit?” Tony asked. There was loud banging noise in the background and an incoherent shout. “I can whip up something by this afternoon, but my best work usually starts closer to three in the morning and this is kinda last minute.”

“No, I don’t need a new suit!” Steve shouted. He became increasingly frustrated for putting himself in this situation. “It’s hard to explain, but just be here.”

“Yeah, whatever you need. A please would be nice,” he grumbled. A crash sounded off in the background. “Ah, shit. FRIDAY! Would you turn on the sprinklers, dear?”

Steve took that as his cue to hang up. He sighed and pressed his palm to his forehead, questioning why he didn’t just come clean to Natasha. She would have understood and he knew that. But...the thought of letting Kotik go was an unsettling one. He grew attached to the fuzzy little thing and he didn’t want to think of her wandering the streets, hunting for food like she was some kind of unloved stray. 

He blew out a huge breath before heaving himself off the bed and making his way toward the kitchen. Natasha sat at the counter with her coffee mug and laptop out, glancing half-heartedly at some files of a possible target. Always working.

Steve felt a pang in his chest. This woman gave him a place to stay, food to eat, and the best company he could ask for. He repaid her by lying and bringing in an animal that would only inconvenience her. He had never felt more ashamed. If it meant Natasha would be more comfortable, he would end his contact with Kotik that night.

(The pang in his chest hurt even more at the thought.)

Natasha noticed his staring and smiled. “See something you like, Capsicle?”

He chuckled, shaking his head to clear his mind. He needed to focus on Natasha. “Don’t call me that, that’s what Tony calls me.”

“Well, based on the hairs on your shirt it looks like I’ve got some competition.”

Steve glanced down at his T-shirt and before he had time to think about it, he pulled it up and off. “There you go, no more competition.”

Natasha’s eyes widened, but only slightly. “Well excuse me, Mr. Rogers.”

Steve fought to not duck his head down out of embarrassment for the impulsive move. “I mean, you’ve seen me shirtless before.

Natasha smiled, very amused. “Yeah. And now I see something that  _ I  _ like.” She blew him a kiss from her seat and turned back to her work. Emboldened, Steve ran to her, lifted her out of her chair, and showered her face with kisses. She gave a tiny yelp in surprise before turning in his arms and kissing him, laughing all the while.

By mid-afternoon, Natasha had left to meet with a team of agents to brief them on an upcoming mission. About an hour and a half after she left, Steve called Tony to come over.

“Okay, Cap, I have your fake suit designs right here,” Tony called as he entered the apartment. “Care to explain why you’re making me do this?”

Steve sighed and rubbed his forehead. “It’s a long story, but basically I attracted a stray cat to the apartment and I haven’t told Nat about it. I’ve been keeping it a secret for over a week now, but I got cat fur on my clothes, Natasha’s allergic, and I told her that the fur was your hair.”

Tony’s eye twitched for a second. “Uh-huh. Why did you rope me into this?”

“I’m sorry, I had to come up with an excuse for the hair! I said that you were showing me new designs.”

“But I’m not showing you designs. So what am I doing here?”

Steve had the decency to look sheepish. “Yeah, so I don’t think she believed me when I told her it was you, so if you could stay here until she gets back? Just pretend like you finished showing me some stuff when she walks in.”

“Cap-”

“I would really appreciate it.”

Tony thought for a moment, then smirked. “At least keep me nourished. Where’s your grub?”

Steve visibly relaxed. “Yeah, sure. Thanks, Tony.” He reached into the fridge to pull out some leftovers from the night before.

Suddenly, a familiar tapping on the window from his room sounded through the apartment. Steve’s eyes widened and he looked back at Tony, who started quickly but cautiously walking towards the guest room.

“Wait, no Tony!”

“Oh, well lookie here,” Tony drawled, already in the other room. Steve heard the telltale sound of a window sliding upwards. “Is this the little intruder?”

“Tony, hang on!” Steve was scrambling to put the food down and run to the bedroom, when all at once, he heard a small ripping noise, Tony cursing, and a light  _ thud!  _

“Son of a bitch,” Tony muttered, still in the guest room. Kotik, who had crawled through the window once Tony had opened it, scurried into the kitchen. 

“Little demon ripped the cuff of my sleeve,” Tony huffed, rubbing at his wrist. Steve couldn’t bring himself to care as he stared down at his little Kotik. She looked up at him and gazed at the Tupperware of stir fry that was still in Steve’s hand.

“ _ Mew _ ,” she whined, and started to claw at his pant leg. Steve quickly put the Tupperware down and lifted Kotik into his arms.

“No, Kotik, that’s not your food. Let’s go back to my room and I’ll give you your own.” He began to scurry back to his room with Kotik, trying to get her out of the kitchen as soon as possible. His attempt proved to be well-intentioned but pitiable, because Kotik started to squirm around in his grip, flailing her limbs out and trying to escape.

“Hey,  _ hey _ ! Enough, we’re almost there-”

But she wouldn’t have it. She successfully squirmed out of his grip and, with surprising force, jumped onto the countertop. Steve blanched. Kotik couldn’t stand where Natasha ate, that would make things worse!

“Tony, can you help me?”

Tony, who had been watching the show with amusement, shrugged and moved forward. “You gotta handle animals with more care than that, Capsicle. Isn’t that right, you little fluff ball?” 

“Yeah, is that why she ripped up your shirt?” Steve muttered. Tony pretended to not hear Steve’s remark and instead reached for the black cat on the table. Kotik noticed the hand coming towards her, looked into Tony’s eyes, then pounced.

Tony let out an involuntary scream when Kotik landed on his chest and tried to cling to his neck. “Shit! What, did you give her catnip or something!?” 

“No, of course not! Bad Kotik!” Steve shouted, reaching to remove her from Tony’s neck. “We do not play with our friends like this!” He put his hand under her belly and turned her to face him. “Kotik, let go!”

She removed her claws from Tony’s next, then extended them to Steve’s collar. His eyes widened, but before he could move, she threw her whole body at him and tore his shirt right down the middle, clinging to the strands of fabric and hanging in the air in front of his knees.

“Gah!” Tony yelped, jumping back about five feet from the scene.

There was a brief pause where the men just stood there, one clinging to his neck and the other with a cat hanging from the ripped remains of his T-Shirt. The spell was broken by a light cough coming from the front door. Steve looked up and, to his abject horror, Natasha was standing there, face blank.

“Uh, hi Tony.”

“...Romanoff.”

“Steve.”

“Nat, I’m so - I can explain. I didn’t mean -”

“Liho.”

Steve cocked his head to the side. Was that Russian? Did she curse at him in Russian? But then, Kotik’s head perked up at the noise. Her ears swiveled a bit before she gave a tiny little  _ mew _ and released her hold on Steve’s shirt, opting to weave between Natasha’s legs instead. Without breaking her gaze from Steve’s, Natasha bent down and scratched under Liho’s chin, who began to purr. 

She smirked. “I think I owe you an explanation.”


End file.
